Despite having traded higher for an incredible 12 consecutive sessions the market retains incredible enthusiasm with buyers emerging following a mixed opening to take March’23 into the upper 20.30’s. A further push to 20.44 followed however this appeared to be generated by day traders with a quick slide back to unchanged levels following as liquidation took place due to the lack of follow-on interest. Still the picture remained stable with the market once again disregarding wider macro weakness, and once the Americas day was underway so the grind higher re-commenced. The morning highs were surpassed and a new mark at 20.48 recorded before once again we saw some long liquidation send us quickly back into the range, possibly due to pressure being allied down the board where producer selling had been ensuring that only March’22 had been moving ahead. Nearby spreads had been significantly wider as a result with March/May’23 reaching 1.27 points and March/Jul’23 to 2.13 points, and though the front month then continued along near to 20.30 these gains were partially maintained. The picture remained quiet through the final three hours, though such is the current resilience of the longs that March’23 remained in small credit heading towards the closing call. Late selling pushed March’;23 back by a few points to settle marginally lower at 20.27, ending the streak of “up” days though the market remains in a strong position.
March’23 commenced its tenure at the top of the board inauspiciously with the opening minutes seeing a sharp collapse from a new recent high mark of $552.80 straight down to $543.40, while also sending the March/May’23 spread back in to $7.00. This movement came as something of a shock on the back of more than two weeks of constant gains, though things soon calmed down with some calmer activity towards the centre of the wide early range. As the day moved on there was a feeling of anti-climax following the Dec’22 expiry, and while there were some reasonable volumes changing hands it felt as though the recent momentum was proving difficult to maintain. The afternoon brought some additional buying though it was insufficient to take the market beyond $550.00, and though prices then eased again they remained within the confines of the early range. The picture was quiet as we headed towards the close when some late selling emerged to send March’23 back towards the lows with settlement at $544.60 providing the poorest single day performance this month, a relative position given the still lofty levels we are seeing. As anticipated the Dec’22 expiry saw 7,190 lots (359,5000mt) tendered
